1 66 



NATURE 



\Jtmc 15, 1882 



7 receive an ordinary degree, and 5 are excused the general 

 examination. Six lady students are formally classed, the three 

 in the first class being Girton students. Thus we have the un- 

 precedented total of 72 names in one tripos list in natural science 

 at Cambridge. Of those in the first class, Trinity and Christ's 

 Colleges furnish 6 each, St. John's 5, Caius and King's 2 each, 

 and Emmanuel and Clare and the non-collegiate students one 

 each. 



University College, London. — Mr. L. F. Vernon- 

 Harcourt, M.Inst.C.E., has been appointed Professor of Civil 

 Engineering and Surveying. Mr. Kennedy retains the Profes- 

 sorship of Engineering and Mechanical Technology. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 

 Annalen dcr Physik mid Chemie, No. 5. — On the relations 

 between galvanic polarisation and the surface-tension of mer- 

 cury, by A. Koenig. — On the work of external forces furnished 

 in a closed circuit, by R. Colley. — On galvanic polarisation, and 

 on the Smee element, by W. Hallock. — Theory of circulatory 

 and elliptically-polarising media, by E. Ketteler. — On the 

 change of the coloui-tone of spectral colours and pigments with 

 decreasing intensity of light, by E. Albert. — On the influence of 

 deformation on electric conductivity, by A. Witkowski. — Re- 

 searches on the height of the atmosphere and the constitution of 

 gaseous heavenly bodies, by A. Ritter. 



Journal de Physique, May. — Electro-chemical figuration of 

 equipotential lines on any portions of a plane, by A. Guebhard 

 — Note on the tangent-compass, by M. Mascart. — Variation of 

 the coefficient of viscosity with the velocity, by B. Elie. — Appa- 

 ratus for showing and measuring in projection, and simulta- 

 neously, the plane of polarisation of the analyser and of the 

 crystalline plate, by L. Laurent.— Register of the duration of 

 rain, by M. Schmeltz. 



Bulletin de V Academic des Sciences de St. Pe'tersoourg (vol. 

 xxviii. fasc. 1). — Analysis of samples of water from lakes and 

 sources in Tibet, by Dr. C. Schmidt. — Measurements of crystals 

 of Oatolith, Amphibol, and Vanguelinit, by B. Koksharow. — 

 On the necessary degree of sensibility of magnetic variation 

 instruments, by II. Wild. — Galvanic phenomena in the cerebro- 

 spinal axis of the frog, by J. Setschenow. — Remarks on the 

 Amphish.xnids, by Dr. A. Strauch. — New researches on the 

 hypothesis of a resisting medium, by O. Backlund. — Effects of 

 the tension on the electrical resistance of copper-wires, by O. 

 Chwolson. 



We notice in the last number of the "Journal of the 

 Russian Chemical Society " (vol. xiv. fasc. 4), an interest- 

 ing paper by M. Radoulowitch, on the formation of peroxide 

 of hydrogen during the oxidation of the terpenes, in which 

 he tries to establish, contrary to the opinions of MM. 

 Berthelot and Papasogli, that the oxidation processes mani- 

 fested by the turpentine oil are not due to the presence of 

 oxygenated compounds of nitrogen, but to the presence of 

 peroxide of hydrogen. In the same number of the "Journal" 

 Prof. Menshutkin gives a summary of his extensive work on the 

 formation of ethers. M. Schwedoff contributes a paper in 

 which he refutes the opinions as to the tails of comets being 

 the result of the repulsive force of the sun on the matter of the 

 comets, and especially the conclusions arrived at by Prof. Bre- 

 dikhin on the subject ; and M. Jouk publishes numerical results 

 as to 1 he temperatures of boiling of methyl alcohol and amylene. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 

 Mathematical Society, June 8. — S. Roberts, F.R.S., pre- 

 sident, in the chair. — Messrs. J. W. Berry, A. R. Forsyth, and 

 J. Wood were elected Members, and Mr. R. A. Roberts was 

 admitted into the Society. — The following communications were 

 made : — On the extension of certain theories relating to plane 

 cubics to curves of any deficiency, A. Buchheim [the object of 

 the paper was the extension, by the use of Abelian functions, of 

 certain theories which, in the case of plane cubics, are immediate 

 consequences of the representation of the co-ordinates of a point 

 of the curve as elliptic functions of a parameter. The theories 

 considered were: (1) the theory of Steiner's polygons, and 

 (2) Prof. Sylvester's theory of derived points (cf. Clifford's 

 "Classification of Loci ")]. — On the differentiation with respect 



to tbe modulus of the amplitude of elliptic functions, Rev. M. 

 M. U. Wilkinson. — Two notes: (1) a definite integral; (2) 

 equation of the director circle of a conic, Prof. Wolstenholme 

 [(2) got, in the case of oblique cartesian co-ordinates, in the form 



d'ui , d-ul _ d 2 uh -, — , , ., . . , . „ 



+—7-^7 = 2- — - cos a\. — Iheoryof orthoptic loci, Kev. 



dx- dy- du dy 



Dr. Taylor [the orthoptic locus of any curve is the locus of 

 intersection of tangents at right angles]. 



Linnean Society, June 1. — Frank Crisp, LL.B., treasurer, 

 in the chair. — Mr. H. C. Burdett was elected a Fellow of the 

 Society. — Mr. H. N. Ridley drew attention to an Equisctum 

 maximum from Swanage, having a spike of fructification sur- 

 mounted by a branch-bearing portion, and remarkable on account 

 of the transition of the sporophores along with the brown 

 acuminate leaves.. — The Rev. G. Henslow exhibited malformed 

 specimens of wallflower, of rhododendron, and of the Garden 

 Ranunculus. — Mr. Mar>hall Ward read a paper on his researches 

 on the life history of Hemileia vastatrix, the fungus of .the 

 coffee-leaf disea>e. The phenomena attendant thereon shows 

 great analogy to those of the Uredine fungi. The spores, under 

 favourable conditions, viz., moisture, a due supply of oxygen, 

 and a temperature of 75° F , usually germinate in from twelve 

 to twenty-four hours. — Complete infection or establishment of 

 the mycelium in the intercellular passages of the leaf occurs about 

 the third day after the formation of the germinal tubes. The 

 so-called yellow spot or ordinary outward visible appearance of 

 the disease manifests itself about the fourteenth or fifteenth day, 

 but may be delayed ; its development and course being dependent 

 on secondary causes, such as atmospheric conditions, monsoons, 

 age of the coffee-leaf, &c. By watching the progress of the spots 

 it has been ascertained that the spores therefrom may be con- 

 tinuously produced for from seven to eleven weeks or even more. 

 Some 150,000 spores have been estimated as present in 

 one yellow cluster spot, and as 127 disease spots have been 

 counted in one pair of leaves, the quantity of spores thns 

 regularly produced must be enormous. According to the amount 

 of diseased spots, the sooner the leaf falls ; and though 

 young leaves arise, the fruit-bearing qualities of the plant 

 necessarily are seriously interfered with. The various sorts 

 of coffee plant are all liable to infection ; the only possible 

 remedy is the difficult one of destruction of the spores, and these 

 are supposed originally to have been introduced from the native 

 jungle, and rapidly spread under the favourable conditions of 

 artificial cultivation. — Dr. Hoggan read a paper on some cuta- 

 neous nerve-terminations in mammals. He related observations 

 on the habits of ths mole ( Talpa), with reference to its nasal organ, 

 as a special sense of touch, and of tbe tail as a tactile organ. 

 The so-ci'led "Organ of Eimer"in the mole's nose, its fibres 

 and cell-, are similar in character to the ordinary sub-epidermic 

 nerve-cells nil : lieir intrapidermic fibrillar prolongations. There 

 is a probability that the inner circle of fibrils possesses the power 

 of touch, and th t the centre ones and those of the outer circle 

 provide the sense of temperature, pain, and other sympathetic 

 functions. The Paccinian bodies at the root of the organ pro- 

 bably register pressure. — Mr. C. B. Clarke read a paper on two 

 Himalayan ferns erroneously described in the ferns of British 

 India. — A communication was made on the Ascidians collected 

 in the cruise of the yacht Glimpse in.1881, by Mr. H. C. Sorby 

 and Prof. W A. Herdman. Twelve species were noted, one 

 A/olgula arpi/brmis, from near Poole, being new. — Mr. P. H. 

 Carpenter followed by descriptions of new or little-known Coma- 

 tulae, being material derived from the Challenger expedition and 

 Hamburg Museum. The author institutes the new genus Eudio- 

 crinus for Semper's Ophiocrinus. — Two other papers read were : — 

 Notes on recent additions to the New Zealand flora, by Mr. 

 Thos. Kirk, and de.-criptions of four new species of Donax, by 

 Mr. Sylvanus Hanley. 



Physical Society, June 10.— Prof. Clifton, preident, in the 

 chair. — New member, Major-General Martin, R.E. — Mr. W. F. 

 Stanley read a paper on sonorous vibrations, especially those of the 

 tuning-fork. The larger and morevi-ible movements of a sounding- 

 body do not appear to be best fitted to propagate musical-sounds 

 as was shown by placing disks on the prongs of a powerful fork, 

 which, when vibrating, could then only be heard a short distance, 

 whereas, by its smaller longitudinal motions, when placed on its 

 resonator, it produced a penetrating sound. The vibration down 

 the stem of the fork was shown not to depend upon a vibrating 

 ventroid, as suggested by Chladni, for a fork cut in the end of a 

 solid steel bar communicated sonorous vibrations equally well to 

 the resonator. To set a fork in vibration it was necessary to 



